Asian pickles : japan PDF
Preview Asian pickles : japan
Copyright © 2012 by Karen Solomon Photographs copyright © 2012 by Jennifer Martin All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. www.crownpublishing.com www.tenspeed.com Ten Speed Press and the Ten Speed Press colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. eISBN: 978-1-60774478-8 Enhanced edition eISBN 978-1-60774-518-1 Food styling by Karen Shinto Prop styling by Christine Wolheim v3.1 Other Cookbooks by Karen Solomon Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It: And Other Cooking Projects (available in hardcover) Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It: And Other Kitchen Projects (available in hardcover and wherever eBooks are sold) FORTHCOMING EBOOKS IN THIS SERIES Asian Pickles: Korea (March, 2013) Asian Pickles: China (July, 2013) Asian Pickles: India (November, 2013) FORTHCOMING PRINT BOOK IN THIS SERIES Asian Pickles: Japan, Korea, China, India, and Beyond (March, 2014) VISIT WWW.KSOLOMON.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION Contents INTRODUCTION When and How to Serve Tsukemono Basics of Japanese Pickling Key Ingredients — TRADITIONAL TSUKEMONO Miso Pickles (Misozuke) Koji Rice Pickles (Kojizuke) Rice Bran Pickles (Nukazuke) Pickled Plums and Pickled Plum “Vinegar” (Umeboshi and Umezu) Pickled Ginger (Gari) Red Pickled Ginger (Beni Shoga) “Thousand Slices” Turnip (Senmaizuke) Preserved Seaweed (Kombu no Tsukudani) Pickled Mustard Greens (Takanazuke) — INSPIRED PICKLES Mixed Ginger and Shiso Pickles “Sitting Fee” Cabbage Pickles Pickled Shiso Leaves and Shiso Vinegar Cucumber and Arame Pickles Pickled Asian Pear (Nashi) with Lemon “Wasabi” Pickled Carrots Puckery Eggplant in Mustard Pickles — Measurement Conversion Charts About the Author Introduction Japanese pickles rock. Many of the flavors are quite familiar to those of us who regularly rally around sushi, ramen, and donburi—soy sauce, ginger, the sweet quality of mirin cooking wine—and these ingredients are regularly used in making many Japanese pickles. When I lived in Japan in the 1990s, I bought and gobbled pickles voraciously, and when a meal came to my table with that special little dish of colorful cut-up morsels, I was a happy woman. So if you have grown bored of the classic bread and butters and dilly green beans, I am pleased to pull back the curtain on a plethora of new pickling possibilities. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of varieties of tsukemono (the Japanese word for pickled foods), many of which vary from region to region, or from home to home. In no way is this a definitive guide—think of it more as a mix tape of a selection of my favorites: some my own kitchen creations, some classic, and all delicious and not overly labor-intensive. And unlike most tsukemono you’ll see on the grocery store shelf, these are all completely devoid of preservatives, artificial colors and flavorings, and other gunky stuff. These recipes cover a lot of terrain. The first group of recipes are entirely traditional; the second batch are my pickled twists inspired by Japanese flavors and ingredients. Many can be crafted from ingredients found in any large grocery store; just a few will require a trip to a Japanese market. Some take weeks or months before you can taste your finished pickles; others are chopstick-ready in minutes. So if you’re unable to hop the next jetliner or tramp steamer to Japan, you have many routes to transport yourself to the land of Japanese pickles. Some of the flavors that are going to hit your tongue here are familiar—like the sweet, sharp, cleansing taste of gari, or pickled ginger. But a lot also hail from what may be uncharted territory: the earthen, musky, meaty flavor of rice bran pickles, or the sweet and pleasantly swampy vegetables that emerge from an amazake cure. I hope that you dig the experience of exploring new and possibly challenging techniques and flavors as much as I do. When and How to Serve Tsukemono I’m of the philosophy that pickles pair best with my mouth almost anytime, usually while I’m standing in front of the open refrigerator. But if you must be a stickler, know that Japanese pickles are traditionally served on any number of occasions, including as part of breakfast or any light meal, with rice and soup; at the end of a meal, as they are believed to aid in digestion; or as happy hour snacks with sake, beer, or whiskey. Some dishes, like curries or fried pork, always have a pickled component served on the side of the plate (see Red Pickled Ginger). And I have heard of many people who jumpstart the day with a tart and puckery umeboshi (pickled plum)—take that, coffee! In short, even traditionalists pretty much come around to the same conclusion as I do: there is never a bad moment to become one with a pickle. On a well-laid Japanese table, pickles are presented quite artfully, with a lot of thought given to offering a variety of flavors, textures, and colors (which would explain why so many store-bought Japanese pickles come off the shelf in Kool-Aid shades of purple, pink, and yellow). Different styles of pickles are often combined; for example, pickles flavored variously with soy sauce, vinegar, and rice bran or miso will share a plate. It is common to see three or more varieties of pickles chopped into tiny bite-sized pieces and arranged side by side in a single small dish. This, my friend, is the pickle as art. Basics of Japanese Pickling While some picklers geek out on what gets pickled (insert your “We can pickle that!” Portlandia riff here), I find I’m more interested in how—in working with new pickling techniques and beds (see Pickling Beds, below). If you share my brand of geekitude, then nothing can compare with Japanese pickles. Just a few pickling principles rule the tsukemono school: 1. Pickling Beds. Like the organic farmer who says her main crop is the soil and vegetables are an added bonus, I profess the importance of the pickling bed—a medium that is reused repeatedly (even indefinitely) and that is the foundation of a number of Japanese pickles. Vegetables or other ingredients cure in the medium for minutes, hours, days, months, or years (!), depending on the style of pickle and the flavor you’re going for. When the pickles are removed, the bed is kept for reuse. Crafting the bed and keeping it pickle-ready is a job unto itself. Bedbound pickles in this book include rice bran pickles, koji rice pickles, and miso pickles. 2. Pressure. Another hallmark of tsukemono craft is the use of pressure. Ingredients to be pickled are salted, put in a container, and covered with a weighted drop lid that does not touch the edges of the container. The vegetables are slowly and gently compressed as they release their liquid and the lid lowers along with them, giving them a crunchy texture. (The resulting liquid is usually discarded, but some like to use it as a flavored, salty component in marinades.) You can buy wooden drop lids (as well as pickling vessels) made especially for tsukemono, but this is not necessary. Any large bowl or bucket, or the insert of your slow cooker, or a clean large glass jar (even a fish bowl with a wide mouth) will work. The drop lid just needs to fit inside the container—you could try a plate, the lid to a food storage container, a saucer for a flowerpot (clean and wrapped
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